iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

It's 3pm. You slept 8 hours. You've read the same email 4 times. You're not tired. You're underfed. In 1999 I slept 14 hours at weekends. Then I changed what I ate. Not how much. What. What time does your crash hit? Free guide to steadying things first: nikolahoward.uk/wcftm

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I'm a finalist for Health and Wellness Warrior in the Flamingo Business Awards. Five books, 26 years and a lot of conversations later, here we are. Worked with me or read one of my books? You can vote until midnight Fri 6 Nov: flamingobusiness.co.uk/fba-public-v…

Finalist graphic: Nikola Howard, Health and Wellness Warrior Award, Flamingo Business Awards 2026.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I grabbed a mic in a field and had a minute to say what I do. 35 years debugging IT. Now I debug metabolisms, mostly for women who lose every afternoon to a blood sugar crash. Where do you eat your lunch?

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

£4,100. 15 months. 11lb lost. Karen Lay took the drug exactly as directed. Her GP told her to stop. The private clinic offered no exit plan. Karen didn't fail. She was given the exit row without the exit plan.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The doctor said “Everything is fine” yet I could barely get off the sofa. 23 years of in-range bloods. One random afterthought blood test suddenly proved I'm not crazy. I was running on data and reference ranges built for an average woman. Ask me how I know.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Your bloodwork says 'normal.' But normal for a 65-year-old man isn't normal for a 42-year-old woman. Most reference ranges are built on male baselines. I've got four chronic conditions and taught myself to read my own results because the system wouldn't. Ever been told 'you're fine'? Tell me.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

23 years of 'your bloods are fine.' Thyroid subclinical. A1C borderline. Ferritin a bit high. Turns out it was haemochromatosis loading iron into my liver, joints and pancreas. My story isn't special but it is typical. If you're being told you're fine, keep asking questions. Keep talking. Louder.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I haven't been fully here for 3 weeks. Been busy talking on Stages about Blueprint for Success & launching my 5th book, "Eat Your Lunch" I debug metabolisms, same skillset as my old IT job, on different hardware My belief: Stabilise your health, fix your business -> nikolahoward.uk/wcftm

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Your HbA1C is normal. Your fasting insulin is could be evaluated at 10 μIU/mL or above. It's also a test that the NHS thinks is irrelevant. Perimenopause can trigger insulin resistance with zero diet change. Oestrogen decline alters your receptors, not your willpower. nikolahoward.uk/wcftm

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

As I'm hoping you know by now, I'm speaking at Be You Now next Friday (SQUEE!), and even though my ticket giveaway is done, there are still a few Standard tickets available 🙂 If you fancy it, details are here: thequeenofreinvention.com/be-you-now #nikolahoward #speaking #events #identity

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Last day. Entries for the Be You Now giveaway close tonight at 23:59. Six tickets, one form. Whichever one you land, you're in a room built to challenge how you're running your business, plus first copies of my book Eat Your Lunch on launch day lp.nikolahoward.uk/bynticketgiveaway

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

One day left to enter the Be You Now giveaway. Quick answer to the one I keep getting asked: yes, you need to be in London on the day. It's in person only, no livestream, no recording. If that works for you, entries close tomorrow 23:59 lp.nikolahoward.uk/bynticketgiveaway

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If I were entering this giveaway myself, I know exactly which prize I'd want. The VIP dinner. The real value in a room like Be You Now happens after the formal bit ends. That's where you ask the question you didn't want to ask in front of 99 other people lp.nikolahoward.uk/bynticketgiveaway

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Entries are open! 6 free tickets to Be You Now, 4 Sept, London. 3 VIP, 3 Standard. No skill, no essay, just fill in the form. Bonus: it's also launch day for my book, Eat Your Lunch, not available anywhere before then. Entries close Wed 23:59:59 lp.nikolahoward.uk/bynticketgiveaway

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I've six tickets to give away for Be You Now, 4 Sept, London. 3 VIP (£247), 3 Standard (£147). Only 100 chairs in the room, you could be in one for free. Entries open Friday, I'll send the link the second it's live. There's also a second reason to want in the room that day... New book launch!

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Told you I'd be back. On 4th September I'm speaking at Be You Now in London, on why eating lunch is your best business decision. As part of my speaker package, I've been given tickets to give away. Full reveal Wednesday, entries open Friday. There's a second reason to want in that room too...

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I skipped lunch more times than I can count in my early career Not too busy to eat, more that stopping just felt like losing Turns out that wasn't the flex I thought it was Talking about this from an actual stage next month (squee!) More soon When did you last eat lunch without multitasking?

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Two peer-reviewed papers. One says support women through menopause at work. One says that support can backfire into discrimination. Both true. Nobody wants to sit with that. I write about the hard stuff. If that's you, you're in the right place.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Menopause costs women 20% of their earnings. Not a wellness stat. That's the BMJ. Hot flushes, brain fog, broken sleep. Not a phase. A tax on your income. Nobody's adding it up for you. If that hits a nerve, stick around.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Brain is 2% of your body weight, takes 20% of the fuel. That 3pm meeting where the slide won't land? Not laziness. Your neocortex just went offline because your blood sugar tanked. Insulin resistance runs 10-15 years ahead of diabetes, standard tests miss it every time. Come find me, kettle's on

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

My mum died in 2022. My business shrank for 3 years, not from bad strategy, but because I couldn't show up. When your body crashes, your business crashes. You ARE the business. Swiss Re, a £30bn reinsurer, just proved it with claims data. I've said it for 26 years. nikolahoward.uk/wcftm

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I'm not anti-GLP-1. I'm not pro-GLP-1. I'm anti no-exit-plan. The pen "works" and your body reads famine. Stop with no plan and the fat comes racing back. Not failure. Physiology. 26 years teaching this. The missing piece has always been the exit plan. Ask me how I know.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

In 2004, I didn't change my bedsheets for 6 months. Not laziness. Gold-standard treatment for endometriosis left me with depression and a year-long period. The NHS is set up to expect you to ask for follow-up. I wasn't in any place to ask. You're not mad. Come find me. Kettle's on.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

PCOS is now PMOS. Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. Diagnosed with PCOS in 2003, no treatment offered to me, because I didn't want kids. NICE published draft PMOS guidance this week. Further thoughts on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/nikolaanne/p/…

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

73% of women founders are stressed. 78% have anxiety. 54% burn out. 43% manage a chronic condition running their business. That's not individual failure. It's system failure. I debugged IT infrastructure for years. Now I debug the infrastructure underneath women's bodies. Ask me how I know.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Spent the first 3 months of this year obsessing over true mid-purple wall tiles for my kitchen So happy with the result! I'm Nikola. 35 years debugging council IT systems. Now I debug metabolisms instead 26 years, 500+ transformations, 4 chronic conditions of my own. Come find me. Kettle's on 🫖

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

NHS England says tirzepatide can affect how you absorb oral HRT and the pill in your gut. You know, the "boring" leaflet bit everyone skips Ask about patches, gels, extra contraception instead Read the guidance. Ask the boring questions Share this with a friend on this combo. Keep her safe too

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Wimbledon has a heat rule. Hit 30.1C and players get a 10-minute break. Not weakness. Operating conditions. Meanwhile we power through everything and call the inevitable crash-it that causes laziness. Your body is not a moral exam. It is infrastructure to care for. 👉 nikolahoward.uk/wcftm

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

June '26. Launch of a pill, a muscle drug, & a gut procedure, all to patch the same weight-loss drug. I wrote 1,059 words on why the sequence is the real story & what fixing a body instead of patching it actually means nikolaanne.substack.com/p/a-pill-a-…

nikolaanne.substack.com

A pill, a muscle drug and a gut procedure walked into June

In thirty-five years of IT infrastructure, I learned to be far more frightened of a tidy patch than of an honest crash.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

They put the jab in a pill. The MHRA just approved the first daily GLP-1 tablet for weight loss in the UK. It will be sold as easier. But easier to start was never the problem. The off switch was. If the answer is a tablet, what's the question it's quietly answering for you?

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I'm 55. Four conditions I didn't pick. 26 years watching women hand me their "before" like a confession. I'm not the before photo. I'm not the after either. I'm the during. The only place anyone actually lives. What have you been waiting to fix about yourself before you'll let yourself start?

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Your fat moved house at menopause. That's not a discipline failure. Oestrogen was keeping your fat cells healthy... then it left & took the instructions with it! The same plate lands differently at 50 than it did at 38. What did you blame yourself for at 40? doi.org/10.2337/db25-0773

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

The Euro parliament just voted 27-9 to call the gender health gap "structural." Rooted in decades of research built around male anatomy. Gynae issues overlooked. Blood pressure thresholds. Missed heart attacks. Drug doses calibrated on a 70kg man, handed to you unchanged. You're not imagining it

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

The NHS won't run your fasting insulin. But there's a proxy hiding in your liver function test. ALT ÷ AST. Under 0.8: insulin in order, pancreas ticking over. Over 0.8: insulin elevated, pancreas working hard. Not a diagnosis. A flag. Go find your last results in the NHS app.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The Maasai have no word for depression. No word for anxiety. Not stoicism, they just don't have the experience to name. Two brain molecules: Glutamate revs up, GABA calms down. High-carb diets feed the first. Fat and protein feed the second. It's not all in your head. It's in your kitchen.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Five things about plant-based eating & hormones: - Your body isn't herbivore - Hormones, built from cholesterol - 11% of vegans are B12 deficient - It has theological roots - UK beef is Grass-fed Full piece: open.substack.com/pub/nikolaanne/p/…

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

A "healthy plant-based diet" is instead quietly dismantling your hormones. Cholesterol builds oestrogen, progesterone, and cortisol. Remove the fat, eat the carbs, and you've pulled the raw materials before your body could use them. This isn't about ethics. It's anatomy. Substack, Wednesday

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

The US flipped the food pyramid. Steak and eggs at top. Grains at the tip. First admission in 45 years that low-fat had no evidence. The UK hasn't caught up. Cholesterol builds every steroid hormone you make. Oestrogen. Progesterone. Testosterone. The 1983 advice is killing us. Don't wait.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

The drug companies just announced a "GLP-1 exit pill". Not a repaired metabolism. If a treatment cannot realistically resolve the issue, it is not really a treatment. The exit is the chance to be the rehabilitation window. The moment to repair the metabolism, not create a forever subscription...

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Cardiovascular risk doubles 3-5 years before menopause. Not after. Before It takes the hit quietly, while we're being told "it's anxiety" Oestrogen regulates heart muscle, arterial flexibility and inflammation levels The British Heart Foundation has been quietly funding research Spread the news!

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

You asked: "What happens when I stop the injections?" They heard: "how do we keep you on something." If your body can't hold the results without it, the drug didn't fix the metabolic environment. It borrowed against it. Substack:

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

You're waiting until your body is sorted before you take the big meeting. "When I feel more like myself," "When I've lost a bit first." "When I'm not so tired." I know. I've said it too. But the people who wait never go to the rooms that change things for them. You're the one setting the terms.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. It's Formula One logic. The fastest drivers don't muscle the corner. Neither does your metabolism. Dramatic change collapses. Slow inputs hold. That's not a discipline problem. That's physics

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

On 12th May 2026, The Lancet renamed PCOS to PMOS. I'm not celebrating. I'm furious. Every woman I've coached with this has been carrying a label that pointed her doctor at the wrong systems. Names drive treatment and reseach. This one was wrong from day one.

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Your anxiety might not be anxiety. Brain insulin resistance is real, measurable, and largely ignored. The markers exist. High Fasting Insulin and HOMA-IR. NHS GPs are not allowed to run these tests :-( ALT/AST ratio from NHS liver function test is your free proxy Over 0.8 means you have work to

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

You've been meaning to sort your health for six months. Still waiting to feel ready? Here's the truth: things don't calm down. There's no right time, and readiness is a decision. HOPE: Six weeks, self-paced, and it starts with your body not against it. My DMs are open. Tell me where you're at

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

1 in 7 women founders named loneliness as their biggest challenge this year. More than half are burning out. Nobody's naming the ones running businesses on bodies with chronic conditions underneath. You can't out-systemise a nervous a nervous system in crisis. DM me PATH for my guide about this

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I had Imposter syndrome on the train to the PHC Conference. 26 years, four books, 500+ clients, still in a "fat body" (The Haemochromatosis interfering unknowingly) Wondered if I'd got it wrong somehow. I hadn't. The science I've been teaching since 1999 is finally being widely acknowledged

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Nikola Howard @nikolahoward.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

In 2016 I refunded three clients because I couldn't write their meal plans with integrity. I created The OSN Scale so everyone could easily create their own plan instead. Nine years later, the industry is selling AI-generated PDFs with your name on them and calling it personalised... I call BS.

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